The lowest point
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The decision of Ray Steele Haulage to pull out of the business (CM12-18 September) will get a lot of sympathy throughout the industry. It not the first firm to shut in recent months and it won't be the last. The reason, as you rightly point out, is that it simply isn't profitable enough being a haulier any more.
There simply isn't the money to be made.
So why doesn't someone do something about it ? The problem is that rates have sunk so low that there is no way honest operators can get by. What happens is that the only people who make money are those who are prepared to cut corners on maintenance and safety and save money that way.
Regulation should not simply be about punishing those that do wrong, it should be about creating a marketplace where it is possible to do the right thing.
Maybe that will only come when so many hauliers have closed or gone to the wall that demand for hauliers starts to outstrip supply. Then rates might recover. Matthew Clack, Redrulh, Cornivali